Oh my how long it's been since I've written a blog, which is partially excusable and partially just an act of laze on my part. Either way, it's long over due that I share my learning, growth, and struggles as an AP Lit student this second trimester.
Let's start in a far far away time... November! We'd just wrapped up our philosophical reflections. I was really proud of the paper I produced and the amount of work I'd put into it. I worked hard on my blog posts, which made writing the paper slightly easier. This being said when I began this paper I had horrible writers block. I recall sitting at my computer with the cursor blinking with nothing more than "Philosophical Reflection" written at the top for a good hour or more. It was horrendous how long it took me to really connect the "what" with the "how". "What" being what I had to say and what I'd learned, "how" being how to actually convey this newfound knowledge. I was stumped.... completely haulted. That's an uncomfortable feeling for me because generally I know what I want, how to get it, and when it'll be mine. For example, if I want to hang out with Ryan I have to do the dishes and clean the entryway before mom gets home at 5. Easy peasy! No "hour or more of doing nothing, knowing what I need to do but being to lost to do it" shenanigans! I hope that with the current paper we're writing about Shakespeare's King Lear that I can expand on my ideas easier because I've written a much larger amount since starting the reflection long ago. Writing seems to be like singing in the aspect that if you neglect your talent, it will go away. It's not like a bike you just pick up and ride, it's much more sophisticated and requires far more attention than I've ever given it before. Going forward into the next marking period I hope for a couple things; fluency, clarity, and the ability to be concise. With that in mind I'm moving on the next subject, our Poems of the Week.
This marking period we've begun to explore the intricacies of writing an FRQ on not one, but two poems! We've had to analyze two poems and somehow draw similarities between style, tone, and theme. This isn't my strong suit at all. I like to be as thorough as I can while writing, and 40 minutes for one poem is something I'd just gotten good at. Now two?!? Too much, that's what. But really, in all actuality, it's something I really don't grasp in my arsenal at this moment. What I find the most challenging about writing the double POW is the fact that you have to be thinking about both poems and how they relate/differ. You may have a great break through about one poem, but it's nothing like the other and ends up leading you down a 15 minute path to no where. I wish there was an easier way to do pre-writing for this exercise. I think this could help me because it would allow me to make sure the ideas in my paper are cohesive. I'd like to see an AP sample of a 9 scoring double poem explication, and really I'd love to know how long it took them. Would it be worth it to spend a hour on one essay to make is decent and risk rushing the others, or have 2 nice essays and one that's a rushed pile of literary fail? I'd like to further explore that question as school goes on.
In the latter half of this marking period we formed lit. groups and began exploring King Lear/Macbeth. I chose to study King Lear due to my prior involvement in the schools production of Macbeth. While watching King Lear I was confused about the plot line as it unfolded. Shakespeare sure did make it hard to follow if you even so much as blinked. While watching, taking Cornell notes helped me keep focused on our chosen lens. Without the notes I probably wouldn't have stayed engaged through an already confusing play. The notes have not only helped my group identify specific scenes to apply our theory to, they've also given us a rough plot outline to draw from. I enjoy the group I'm working with on this project. I'm working with new people and it's refreshing to gain new perspectives. Working with different people has allowed me to see new writing and learning styles. It's also let me see how hard working all of my peers really are, and how our collaborative hard work can really pay off. Over the snow day of Wednesday 15 I wrote a lot for this paper at Kaya and focused on trying to find all of the write way to explain our theory. Freud had vast ideas, so as a group we paired it down to what we wanted to apply. Now I'm facing that challenge once more as I pair down the intro/critical theory explanation onto something that relates to what Veronica will be writing in the other paragraphs. I'm really impressed with our group paper this time around! Veronica and I figured out a great way to make our paper cohesive yet has allowed us to work independently of each other. Figuring this out is a huge educational leap because that first go around my group wasn't very collaborative, mostly because I think we hadn't found our bearings.
That being said, there are days where I feel like I still haven't found my bearings in anything! Sometimes I stare at a screen trying to write and nothing happens. Other days I overflow with thoughts and ideas. Is this normal? I think, for the most part, yes. My mind works in shifts, on and off. It flickers back and forth, but when it's on... It's GOOD!
Here's hoping for more on days in the weeks to come.
Thanks for reading,
Annie.
Let's start in a far far away time... November! We'd just wrapped up our philosophical reflections. I was really proud of the paper I produced and the amount of work I'd put into it. I worked hard on my blog posts, which made writing the paper slightly easier. This being said when I began this paper I had horrible writers block. I recall sitting at my computer with the cursor blinking with nothing more than "Philosophical Reflection" written at the top for a good hour or more. It was horrendous how long it took me to really connect the "what" with the "how". "What" being what I had to say and what I'd learned, "how" being how to actually convey this newfound knowledge. I was stumped.... completely haulted. That's an uncomfortable feeling for me because generally I know what I want, how to get it, and when it'll be mine. For example, if I want to hang out with Ryan I have to do the dishes and clean the entryway before mom gets home at 5. Easy peasy! No "hour or more of doing nothing, knowing what I need to do but being to lost to do it" shenanigans! I hope that with the current paper we're writing about Shakespeare's King Lear that I can expand on my ideas easier because I've written a much larger amount since starting the reflection long ago. Writing seems to be like singing in the aspect that if you neglect your talent, it will go away. It's not like a bike you just pick up and ride, it's much more sophisticated and requires far more attention than I've ever given it before. Going forward into the next marking period I hope for a couple things; fluency, clarity, and the ability to be concise. With that in mind I'm moving on the next subject, our Poems of the Week.
This marking period we've begun to explore the intricacies of writing an FRQ on not one, but two poems! We've had to analyze two poems and somehow draw similarities between style, tone, and theme. This isn't my strong suit at all. I like to be as thorough as I can while writing, and 40 minutes for one poem is something I'd just gotten good at. Now two?!? Too much, that's what. But really, in all actuality, it's something I really don't grasp in my arsenal at this moment. What I find the most challenging about writing the double POW is the fact that you have to be thinking about both poems and how they relate/differ. You may have a great break through about one poem, but it's nothing like the other and ends up leading you down a 15 minute path to no where. I wish there was an easier way to do pre-writing for this exercise. I think this could help me because it would allow me to make sure the ideas in my paper are cohesive. I'd like to see an AP sample of a 9 scoring double poem explication, and really I'd love to know how long it took them. Would it be worth it to spend a hour on one essay to make is decent and risk rushing the others, or have 2 nice essays and one that's a rushed pile of literary fail? I'd like to further explore that question as school goes on.
In the latter half of this marking period we formed lit. groups and began exploring King Lear/Macbeth. I chose to study King Lear due to my prior involvement in the schools production of Macbeth. While watching King Lear I was confused about the plot line as it unfolded. Shakespeare sure did make it hard to follow if you even so much as blinked. While watching, taking Cornell notes helped me keep focused on our chosen lens. Without the notes I probably wouldn't have stayed engaged through an already confusing play. The notes have not only helped my group identify specific scenes to apply our theory to, they've also given us a rough plot outline to draw from. I enjoy the group I'm working with on this project. I'm working with new people and it's refreshing to gain new perspectives. Working with different people has allowed me to see new writing and learning styles. It's also let me see how hard working all of my peers really are, and how our collaborative hard work can really pay off. Over the snow day of Wednesday 15 I wrote a lot for this paper at Kaya and focused on trying to find all of the write way to explain our theory. Freud had vast ideas, so as a group we paired it down to what we wanted to apply. Now I'm facing that challenge once more as I pair down the intro/critical theory explanation onto something that relates to what Veronica will be writing in the other paragraphs. I'm really impressed with our group paper this time around! Veronica and I figured out a great way to make our paper cohesive yet has allowed us to work independently of each other. Figuring this out is a huge educational leap because that first go around my group wasn't very collaborative, mostly because I think we hadn't found our bearings.
That being said, there are days where I feel like I still haven't found my bearings in anything! Sometimes I stare at a screen trying to write and nothing happens. Other days I overflow with thoughts and ideas. Is this normal? I think, for the most part, yes. My mind works in shifts, on and off. It flickers back and forth, but when it's on... It's GOOD!
Here's hoping for more on days in the weeks to come.
Thanks for reading,
Annie.
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